DWM Solutions started as a family owned and run business to provide IT Systems and Proactive Support. It takes on the responsibility of managing IT, so their customers don’t have to think about it. Over the years DWM has developed and continue to develop a methodology that ensures that they are able to provide their customers with the best possible support. To enhance their business DWM adopted the Entrepreneurial Operating System and the results have been stunning.
Guy Newton is now leading DWM and has ‘grown up’ through the EOS process. In this episode he discusses the clarity EOS has brought to all staff and how it has encouraged an open and honest workplace.
Transcript
Murray Smith: Guy Newton, welcome to Gripping Business Tales.
Guy Newton: Thanks, mate. I appreciate it. Appreciate being here.
Murray: Great. So with all our interviews, we’re going to start with the questions: have you got one personal success you’ve had in the last few weeks, and one professional success?
Guy: Yeah, look—best personal is probably a long-lasting one. My daughter’s about to turn 18, and I’ve come out unscathed through the teenage years, so I’m pretty stoked about that. In fact, if she got into trouble with the cops or something like that, I’d probably high-five her—just to say, “Right, you’ve lived.”
And professionally, probably at the end of last year we had two bites of the apple and I became the integrator for DWM. The second time around, we got it right. I took on that role in October and hit the ground running—really enjoying it.
Murray: Great. We’re going to explore that a bit more. But first, tell us more about DWM—what do you do, and where are you heading?
Guy: DWM isn’t a traditional managed service provider—we do things slightly differently, but the industry still lumps us in that category. Basically, we look after all the IT needs for our clients, including councils, small businesses, hospitals—everything from small to enterprise-grade infrastructure.
Our focus is on enabling people to excel and love what they do. The ethos is technology that keeps you working, not waiting. We don’t want clients logging support tickets. We want to stop issues from happening in the first place—which makes us a bit different.
Murray: It’s a really interesting approach. So DWM has a presence across several regions, right?
Guy: Yeah, we’ve got offices in Geelong, Moonee Ponds, Bendigo, Echuca, and a few satellite offices like Corowa and Tooleybuc. If you drew a line from southern Victoria up to New South Wales, we’ve got offices along that route. We cover from Foster in South Gippsland to Nhill near the SA border, and north into Albury and Echuca.
Ninety percent of our work is remote, but we still get in the car to catch up with clients face-to-face. That’s always good fun.
Murray: That regional focus is really important. There are plenty of great businesses outside metro Melbourne that need support. So, if someone listening wants to get in touch—how should they do that?
Guy: Easiest is the website or call 1300 144 065. All the contact details are there. Ask for Guy—we’re here to help. All our team are like that. We’ve got tech heads, but we lead with people. That’s one of our core values—helping others.
Murray: I want to take you back to when you were first introduced to EOS at DWM. Tell me how that came about.
Guy: Nick and Jenny—our founders—go to lots of conferences and forums. They came across EOS, and at that point we already had a leadership team formed. They wanted to expose the team to it, so we had a 90-minute meeting with Anthony.
We were daunted by the cost initially, but the value of the methodology far outweighed that. We saw the future it could help us build. We went to our first Vision Building Day, did all the activities, and that’s when Anthony asked the hard question: did Jenny want to be the integrator? She said no.
The team had a vote—it was very candid—and they nominated me. We walked out thinking that handover would happen the next quarter.
Murray: And when was that?
Guy: About a year and a half ago.
Murray: So what happened next?
Guy: Well, Jenny kept doing her thing, I kept looking after support, and it went nowhere. We didn’t fully understand what the change meant. Later, we revisited it and agreed to plan it out over three quarters.
I went to the EOS Conference in Atlanta with Jenny and sat in on some great sessions—visionary-integrator relationships, using Level 10s with clients, that sort of thing.
Jenny found a checklist over there titled “What an Integrator Does.” We looked at it and thought, “Yep, I’m already doing some of this, but we need to start handing it all over.” Then life got busy and we forgot about the list.
A week before the official handover, I panicked—said to Jenny, “We haven’t done any of it!” She sat me down, pulled out the list, and we ticked off every item.
It was hilarious—she laughed at how flustered I was. But it goes to show, there’s real magic in writing it down. Whether consciously or subconsciously, we’d done the work.
Murray: It’s always easier to laugh when you’re the one letting go of the reins.
Guy: Yeah—and credit to Jenny. She’s been running DWM with Nick for 20 years. Letting go isn’t easy. I’ve tried to support her through that transition. She’s still on the leadership team as our People and Culture Manager, and it’s great to have her there to lean on.
Murray: For context, Nick and Jenny are the founders of DWM, and they’ve shown real courage in letting the business grow beyond themselves.
Can you describe what the challenges were before EOS, and how they’ve changed?
Guy: Getting everyone on the same page—that’s been the biggest shift. Now, when we set rocks at the leadership level, the delivery teams create rocks that support those goals. We’re all rowing in the same direction.
And Level 10 meetings—that structure has revolutionised our business. If you only take one thing from EOS, implement Level 10s. They’re efficient, structured, and drive accountability—not from the top down, but peer to peer. If someone doesn’t complete a to-do, it’s their teammates asking why, not just the boss.
Murray: Let’s dive deeper into that. What do Level 10 meetings look like?
Guy: They follow a set structure. Five minutes to check in, five minutes to review the scorecard—your key metrics. We call out any issues and drop them down to the IDS (Identify, Discuss, Solve) list.
Then we review rocks—each person says “on track,” “off track,” or “done.” If off track, we drop it down to IDS.
The best part? Sixty minutes of the meeting is spent solving real issues. Not talking about them—solving them. We walk out with clear to-dos that get reviewed next week.
The accountability comes from the team. It’s not about blame. If someone’s stuck, we ask, “What do you need to get this done? How can we help?”
Murray: That’s a great distinction—accountability isn’t about blame. It’s about clarity and support.
I suspect your implementer, Anthony Wood, plays a big role in helping reinforce that.
Guy: Absolutely. We still use Anthony as our external implementer, even though Jenny is heading down the path to becoming one herself.
Anthony sits outside the box. He’s not in the weeds with us, so he sees things we don’t. He asks the hard questions. Sometimes it gets uncomfortable—blood, sweat and tears—but we all leave those sessions aligned and motivated.
Murray: Clearly you’re a fan of EOS, but if people listening took away just one piece of advice—not including “go use EOS”—what would it be?
Guy: Read the book Traction. Even if you don’t implement the whole system, there are golden nuggets in there. Start with Level 10 meetings—they’ll change how you meet.
Also, read Five Dysfunctions of a Team. It’s an easy listen on audiobook—told as a story—but packed with insights about different personalities and team dynamics.
Another one is Good to Great by Jim Collins. It’s all about how great companies build enduring success.
Murray: Brilliant recommendations. Looking ahead, what are the biggest challenges for DWM, and how will EOS help?
Guy: We’re now getting into the systems and processes side. Anthony advised holding off at first—it’s a big beast.
Our challenge now is consistency. We document processes well, but getting everyone to follow them? That’s the tricky bit.
The process is the high-level—5 to 8 key steps. The procedure is how to do each step. I used to think they were the same thing, but the EOS Conference helped clarify that.
Now it’s about making sure everyone not only knows the process but follows it every time.
Murray: And that’s where the “followed by all” part of EOS comes in. Easier when people understand the vision, the chart, and their part in it.
Guy: Exactly. And we’re an open book—we share our full V/TO with the whole team. They know our numbers, our goals, how we performed last quarter.
It surprises a lot of new staff, but we want everyone aligned. How can they prioritise if they don’t know what we’re aiming for?
Murray: That’s a great insight, Guy. Thank you so much for joining Gripping Business Tales. We’ll include contact details for DWM and links to the books you mentioned in the show notes. Really appreciate your time.
Guy: Thanks for having me—I appreciate it.